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Who Really is the "Director" of Dashboard?
MacManX writes "Does the director of Apple's upcoming Mac OS X feature, Dashboard, have something to hide? Or does he wish to remain hidden? Or are we just reading into this way too much? Rick has an excellent observation over at MacMerc. The evidence will astound you."
An 'Alan Smithee' directed film also refers to a film that turned out so bad the director demanded the removal of his name (instead of having it taken away from him, as the IMDB quote in the article states).
Example: the theatrical "Dune" movie was originally a David Lynch film, but subsequent prints bear the Smithee label.
Fun fact: "Alan Smithee" is an anagram of 'i.e., the alias man.'
Implication in context: rather than implying that Dashboard is so bad Apple took the project from its director, perhaps it means the project director doesn't want his name associated with it. Go Woz!
-- Apparently, some people are calling me 'Maurice' merely because I said something about the pompitus of love.
In the original cut the lead widget and widgetess were supposed to spend their lives apart, in exile, each dying thinking the other betrayed them, not realizing they really disowned the other to save the other's life.
But the studio made them change it so they lived together in a cottage in exile after the King's wife told him she'd leave him childless if he sent them apart forever.
Stupid Hollywood.
(sheesh, the Alan Smithee conspiracy seems a bit far-fetched--if the guy in charge of the project didn't like what he was doing enough to go pseudonymous in a keynote, he has to be either really, really stupid, or hoping to be fired (or Steved, by some peoples' lexicon). My guess is that it's just Apple's new version of "John/Jane Doe").
What did the article prove? Nothing. This is in my opinion a waste of space on the Slashdot's first page. Mod me down if you want, but the fact that Apple employees put in a fake name in a demonstration movie is no 'conspiracy'. Have you considered that maybe they just don't want people to peek at real people's profiles/names?
A nice little thing to notice, but using it as proof for the one who designed Dashboard? That's stretching it...
What's so bad about being lazy? What if there was a war and nobody showed up?
Now that everyone knows, it doesn't really make sense for companies to allow Alan Smithee to be associated with their productions. So what's the new alias? I'm guessing that if there is one, it's David E. Kelly.
Alan Smithee is one of those little pieces of knowledge that people know because it helps make them feel elite, which is weird because everyone knows about it by now. It's like the way mullets were a big joke a while back.
But really, odds are, if you know about it, then it's not hip and you're cool, stop pretending and go listen to some more Weezer.
people just seem to want to always find hidden meanings that, most times, aren't there at all.
e to the pi i plus one equals zero
Sadly, this article: not so funny. However, since we're talking about Dashboard, I recommend going to Surfin' Safari, the weblog of Dave Hyatt, lead programmer of Safari. Since WWDC, he's been talking about Dashboard, what it really is, and the development path they're taking.
Dashboard is actually going to be a WebKit application, with some HTML Extensions to let you do things like put a transparent mask over the window and call local code. He's discussing putting the HTML extensions into their own default namespace right now, as well as submitting them for standards approval (well, some of them). It's a very interesting weblog, and certainly worth having on the RSS feed if you're at all interested in the development of Safari and webkit.
=Brian
There is nothing so good that someone, somewhere, will not hate it.
So maybe there is something going on here.
Apple is innocent...
O.J. is innocent...
:Puts on his flame suit: it's only a joke. i swear!
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Didn't Apple along with a bunch of other software corporations stop putting credits in their software a few years ago, to help prevent large competitors in or around Redmond from paying whatever it took to make ridiculously generous offers for those employees to work for them? Wouldn't it be prudent (if that is their policy) to avoid trumpeting all those people's names as well? What if this person didn't turn in the NDA yet?
Alex.
(Liberal arts my ass. Two degrees in music and I work in a frickin' bookstore. But I'm not bitter!)
:P
To reign is to serve.
College isn't votech. You don't go to college to learn a specific trade or subject. You go to learn how to THINK. Once you know how to think, you apply that to any field.
The subject you major in is just the vehicle you use to learn how to think. I majored in Chemistry and now, 10 years later, I manage a technology group at a financial services company. I have yet to set foot in a lab for work since I left college.
I find the kids these days that major in business (MIS, whatever) don't really know a whole lot outside of their discipline. Liberal Arts gives you exposure to different fields. If you use your college experience properly and learn how to THINK, then you can use your off-major classes as practive for the real world.
In the past few years I have interviewed ~30 students from the MIS program at Northeastern for internship positions in my company. i have found that most of them have no idea what MIS is and are a bit suprised when they realize they will be working the help desk or desktop support as one of their first jobs out of college.
--mike
But one keen observation: I'm a movie geek, so I searched for Alan Smithee on IMDB and I get that name for directors of some of the greatest movies ever made, several are on the IMDB's top 250 list. 12 Angry Men, the Original Manchurian Candidate, Cool Hand Luke, the first Superman, etc. Interesting stuff.
No.
Sidney Lumet is credited as "Sidney Lumet" for 12 Angry Men (1957). He is credited as "Alan Smithee" for Q&A (1990).
John Frankenheimer is credited as "John Frankenheimer" for The Manchurian Candidate (1957). He is credited as "Alan Smithee" for Riviera (1987)
Stuart Rosenberg is credited as "Stuart Rosenberg" for Cool Hand Luke (1967). He is credited as "Alan Smithee" for Let's Get Harry (1986).
Jackie Cooper is credited as "Jackie Cooper" for playing the role of "Perry White" in Superman (1978). He is also credited as "Jackie Cooper" for playing the role of "Alan Smithee" in Moonlight (1982).
If you look in the last couple of frames as the things fly toward the screen. You can see Alan Smithee's phone #, how about somebody calls him and asks him what's up. It is also the number in this article about opendoc, but that was in 1996 so maybe it got reassigned.
ALAN SMITHEE
408-796-1010
-> Fritz
Spooooon!!!!!
so I searched for Alan Smithee on IMDB and I get that name for directors of some of the greatest movies ever made, several are on the IMDB's top 250 list.
No, the IMDB page is saying those directors, with their most famous movies in parenthesis so you'll know who they are, are sometimes AKA "Alan Smithee". So for instance John Frankenheimer directed "12 Angry Men" and was credited as such. He ALSO directed a 1987 TV movie "Riviera" under the name Alan Smithee - meaning that "Riviera" sucked, he hated it and didn't want his name associated with it.
This Smithee guy must be a genius ... IMDB states he directed his first movie the year he was born and has been writing, directing, producing, composing, designing and editing many dozens if not hundreds of shows since. Now he's a keynote-quality software designer.
Good show old chap!
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
i work in the entertainment industry so it stuck out as odd to me. but don't we all think steve jobs, who also happens to be the ceo of a major movie production studio, would know the significance of that phrase BEFORE he demo'd dashboard? most people in the entertainment field know what that means. i seriously doubt he would be caught unawares.
I don't expect music (or writing, foreign languages, film studies, etc...) to make me rich, but I do expect to find the life we lead more rewarding long-term in intangibles like contentment, creativity, personal pride in accomplishments, contribution to culture and such.
Not to say I wouldn't mind a few tangibles as well! :)
To reign is to serve.
That this posted by someone masquerading under the pseudonym 'Pudge'. Clearly he is deeply deeply embarrassed by this post. ... or somehing.